Tuesday 29 November 2011

2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge


We all have those books. We buy them, win them, they're gifted to us.. Then we put them up on a bookshelf and there they stay, collecting dust, waiting for the time when we'll finally decide to pick them up (or in my case filed away on my kindle).. Sooo, I have signed up to participate in the 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge!!

This challenge will run from January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012.

Hosted By the wonderful Evie from Bookish

11-20 - A Friendly Hug

Just a few of the books I hope to read are:

Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenbrand
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Hunt The Moon by Karen Chance
The Immortality Virus by Christine Amsden
Bloodspell by Amalie Howard
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Black Wood by Jayde Scott
Supernaturally by Kiersten White
Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
Blood of The Demon by Rosalie Lario

Challenge guidelines: 
  1. This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012.
  2. As we would like to see quality reviews linked up to our monthly wrap-ups, only bloggers can enter. Sorry about that!
  3. Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Only books released in 2011 and earlier! NO ARCs and 2012 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed!
  4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
  5. When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2012 TBR PILE Reading Challenge (You need to include the info + host list + challenge button. You can also grab the button code and add it to your sidebar!)
  6. You can move up levels, but no moving down.
  7. Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2012, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
  8. At the end of each month one of the hosts will post a wrap-up. Every wrap-up will have it's unique theme, a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from this month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of choice from Book Depository. It's open to INTERNATIONALS. For participating in the mini-challenge you will get +1 entry.
  9. If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice - we will be checking ;)
  10. December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you'll link up in December will be entered into a HUGE giveaway - 12 books, 12 winners, INTERNATIONAL. 
  11. You don't have to follow all the hosts to join the challenge, but you do have to follow all of us to be entered in giveaways!
Levels:

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - A Sweet Kiss
31-40 - Love At First Sight
41-50 - Married With Children

Hosts:

Evie from Bookish - http://www.evie-bookish.blogspot.com @SeoEvie

Nicole from All I Ever Read - http://www.nicoleabouttown.com/ @Nicoleabouttown

Bonnie from Hands and Home - http://www.handsandhome.ca/ @HandsHomeBlog

Donna from Book Passion For Life - http://bookpassionforlife.blogspot.com/ @BookPforLife

Caitlin from WatchYA Reading - http://whatchyareading.net @caitlingss

Rie from Mission To Read - http://missiontoread.com/ @missiontoread

Vicky from Books, Biscuits & Tea -http://booksbiscuitsandtea.blogspot.com/ @alouetteuette

Jenna from Fans Of Fiction - http://fansoffiction.blogspot.com/ @fansoffiction

Sunday 27 November 2011

REVIEW: Junk Miles (Brenna Blixen #2) by Liz Reinhardt

 
Author: Liz Reinhardt
Pages: eBook
Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Self

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Kissing someone other than your boyfriend is cheating.

But what about thinking about kissing someone other than your boyfriend?

What about thinking about it a lot?

Brenna Blixen has the perfect boyfriend. He's sweet, sexy, loyal, and sure that Brenna is the best thing that's ever happened to him. But being the perfect girlfriend isn't as easy as Brenna thought it would be, and the pressure that comes with trying to be Jake's everything is beginning to weigh on her. When her mother surprises her with a trip to Paris over winter break, she's torn. She anticipated spending her vacation snuggling with Jake Kelly, ice-skating, drinking cocoa, and relaxing...but what girl in her right mind would turn down a trip to Paris?

Things only get more confusing when she winds up unexpectedly and unavoidably thrown into Saxon Maclean's arms in the City of Lights. Far away from the comfort and stability she finds at Jake's side, Brenna faces down the feelings that have been swirling through her since the day she laid eyes on Saxon. Is it fair for her to call herself Jake's girlfriend when she has so many unresolved feelings about someone else?

Brenna is determined to figure it all out, even if it means making some of the hardest decisions of her entire life. She also learns that every single thing she does has rippling repercussions, some that fill her with total regret. By the time she figures out what her heart truly wants, she realizes that she may not be able to have it after all.

This book is recommended for Older/Mature YA.

REVIEW: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Wow! Another amazing installment in the Brenna Blixen series by the wonderfully talented Liz Reinhardt.

Junk Miles continues where Double Clutch left off. Brenna Blixen’s life is going seemingly well, she has a sweet, adoring boyfriend, Jake Kelly, the most wonderful parents and she is doing really well promoting and selling her t-shirt designs. But her mind tends to wander to bad boy, cigarette and tic-tac loving Saxon Maclean.

Its Christmas time and holiday break and Brenna has received a trip to Paris with her mother, an amazing gift and definitely something she is excited about but it means having to leave Jake behind but her independence is something she holds onto and she is happy to be spending time with her mum. Other professors and their family members are also going along on this trip, and Saxon’s mother is also a professor which means Saxon will be accompanying her.

Saxon being in Paris sends Brenna’s thoughts and emotions into upheaval, she loves Jake but also has strong feelings for Saxon which are reciprocated. Saxon is a straight talker and he is upfront from the beginning about what he wants from Brenna but them being in the same city turns her relationship with Jake upside down.

I am completely torn about Saxon and Jake, I was all for a Brenna/Saxon hook-up but after reading Junk Miles I truly couldn’t decided who I wanted her with – I adore everything about each of them, they seem so very different and I have a tendency to go for the bad boys but Jake really put his heart out there in this book which I loved. Saxon has his issues but he means well, he is misunderstood and seemingly lonely and I think his flaws are emphasized more.

I absolutely adore Brenna! She is so independent, smart and stylish and she stands up for what she believes in. I love the close relationship she shares with her parents, especially her mother who at times was a tad over the top but I still loved the way she trusted and respected Brenna and let her make her own decisions.

Ms Reinhardt writing really packs a punch, she writes in a way that is realistic and true to the characters, I was squirming at times (sometimes in a good way, other times not so good) but I think it makes for a great novel which gets you thinking, you also never know which way the story will go which I really like.

At times I was so mad at Brenna, Saxon and Jake, they each did things that were wrong even spiteful but it was retaliation for the hurt they felt. Ms Reinhardt’s storytelling was pure enjoyment, the way she described the conflict, confusion, heartache and emotional turmoil of each of the characters was believable and even though I truly despise love triangles – and it is pretty much a plot revolving around Brenna’s feelings for two different guys, I found the situation these teenagers were in to be very real.

Liz Reinhardt’s writing is absolutely brilliant! I was immersed in the story from the beginning to end and was constantly annoyed by real life pulling me away ;)

I can’t recommend this series enough; there is romance, drama and ongoing conflict that keep you turning the pages. Ms Reinhardt is now an auto-buy for me. I am really eager to get hold of Slow Twitch which is told from each of the main characters POV’s.

 
Obtained: Amazon for Kindle